⇨ THE PRINCE IS DEAD

[ringleaders]

Who: Everyone!
When: Day 178 - B1: Day 6
Where: The Carnival and sometimes on top of the Heart of Stone.
What: Now that the Prince is dead and gone, there's a lot left to sort out. As the remaining servants are liberated and those captured by the Prince are tended to, it's time for recovery and goodbyes.
Warnings: Nothing in particular.

HOME GROUND↴ At long last, it is over. The Prince is dead, and all of his stolen Names have been restored - all that's left to do is treat the wounds and move on. For the first day or two, the Ringmaster will be arranging passage for the servants that are left, all of which have remembered their names for the first time in years. The earth elemental that had been trapped and forced to serve as the Prince's manor, the Heart of Stone, is happy to help for the moment. It appreciates the Ringmaster's mercy, and is free after untold eons of imprisonment. Yet, there are plenty of aspects that are far from simple. There are still servants left mad and transformed into beasts, with no easy way to change them back. The Prince's spells outlive him, and those bearing his poison and his curses will have a difficult road ahead of them. Though most of the bestial servants have been rounded up, and a large number that had been reduced to unmoving statues returned, even the Ringmaster can't return them to normal so simply. The next week is for rest and for settling remaining affairs. If you want to bid farewell to any particular NPCs, or assure care is given where it's needed, now is the time to do it. ► A CURE: The Ringmaster will tell everyone simply - there is no simple way to undo another fae's magic. The Prince's powers were essentially on par with hers, which means that those who have been transformed to stone and those that were cursed into beasts and driven insane are not something she can trivially fix. It will take the work of the carnival and a couple weeks of treatment to shed the curse of stone, and the maddened servants are an entirely separate matter. She will do what she can, but for the most part she is arranging for the Prince's servants to be cared for elsewhere. At least for now, the Ringmaster will be animating the stone portions of people's bodies with magic, though those portions will still be a bit clumsy and numb feeling. ► THE NEW HEARTSTONE: In the absence of the prince, the Heart of Stone will be taking over the remains of the Prince's realm and preventing it from collapsing into void. As it turns out, the manor had been an earth elemental all along - a form of Wyld Fae almost on par to the Prince and Ringmaster themselves. How the Heart of Stone was enslaved is a long story presumably, but the Ringmaster considers it to be a sign of the Prince's own depravity. The Heart will be allowing visitors for the first couple days of this period through the portal, but keep in mind you are essentially just walking around on its body. At least the realm has a floor, now, instead an endless abyss surrounding it.

Comments

[periphrasing]

The start of his response? Not the best opener. The frustration starts to creep across Peridot's expression once more, but then that last sentence stops it cold. And there it is. Is the misunderstanding behind this whole debacle really so simple..?

(It isn't, but, Peridot is sure holding on to the hope that it is.)

The engineer sighs heavily, casting him a pleading look. "That's not always true, though. By default, sure, we're much greater than your average rock, but. Our physical forms, all of this--" she pauses briefly, gestures up and down at herself, at the physical body that she relies upon to interact with the world as she does on a day to day basis-- "can be destabilized. And when it destabilizes badly enough, it dissipates, and when it dissipates..."

She huffs, and lightly taps her own gem with one claw in a meaningful way. "We're still far more remarkable than your average rock at that point, mind you," she clarifies, because heaven forbid she give any organic the impression that gems are weak or not awesome in any way. "But when it comes to mobility... we're not much better off than one. Or any other inanimate object, for that matter."

[kingsroads]

Strange just looks even more tired and even more annoyed the more Peridot talks. How on Earth was he expected to know that? He doesn't know how gems work! This whole destabilization thing was something he didn't even know they could do in the first place!

So once again, this turns out to be a case of Strange rushing off and doing something half-cocked without knowing the details. He would really like that to stop happening, alright universe?

"Why didn't you think to tell me that when you warned me that Lazuli was 'sensitive'?" Because at least in Strange's mind, a little bit of this is Peridot's fault just as much as it is his. "I've never encountered gems before the carnival and I barely know half of you to begin with. There is no way I would have known something like that was even possible."

[periphrasing]

"Wh--!" Peridot flounders for a second; she certainly hadn't predicted this as a possible reaction to her explanation. And the most terrible thing here is that she is all too willing to accept some of the blame. Her expression twists into something painful, initially unsure how to respond to the accusation.

Is this her fault? It can't be, no... Not entirely, anyway. Strange acted like a total jerk, and there's no rationalizing that away. But Peridot also can't deny the point that the conversation may have gone quite differently if she'd thought to explain Lapis's situation to Strange in more detail first. BUT ON THE OTHER HAND--

"But Steven did try to explain it to you--!" she argues desperately in a brief attempt to defend herself. But she folds before she even finishes the thought, shoulders sagging miserably. "You're right," Peridot groans, glancing down at her feet. "I could have prevented this... But in my defense, when I asked you to be sensitive, I took not blaming her for her situation as am obvious given!"

[kingsroads]

Wait, what. Peridot said he's right?

Well that just takes Strange by surprise as he stares at her for a second. There's a very confused pause while he replays that in his head (and Peridot continues to fuss at him). But she's not heaping all of the blame on him, much like Childermass and Sans did (or much like Strange thinks Childermass and Sans did).

Well! That's reassuring! Glad she knows what he knows! When Strange starts talking again, a bit of that anger's vanished from his voice and his tone is more level.

"It is my own fault I'm cursed. It's Lambert and the rest's fault that they were kidnapped by the Prince. Believing Lazuli got trapped as a result of her own—" Don't say idiocy, don't say idiocy "—her own experiences isn't too far a guess to make." There's a brief pause before Strange admits,

"Though I could have gone about it a little better."

He's not at all apologizing for the fact that he thought Lapis was an idiot who got herself trapped. He's apologizing for the fact that he was blunt about how Lapis was an idiot who got herself trapped.

[periphrasing]

Peridot keeps listening to him, but she's also sitting there kind of looking like she's going to be ill. This entire conversation isn't going at all like she'd hoped? It's not exactly going wrong, some of what Strange is saying makes sense on paper... but it also just doesn't feel right to her. Why is that...?

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but... All that aside. I think, it doesn't really matter who's at fault here," she says carefully, after a moment. "I mean, didn't come here just to try and and get you to admit that you were wrong, and Lapis was right, or anything like that. I came here because... I wanted to try and help you to understand. You stopped answering your radio after a while and I figured, 'wow, he must be really upset!'"

The gem looks away and rubs her shoulder awkwardly. "When I first came to Earth, I said and did... a lot of things that upset people, because I just didn't know how things were supposed to work there. I wasn't ever trying to be mean... I just didn't have the perspective necessary to understand where my new friends were coming from, or why the things I was saying were so hurtful to them. They had every right to be upset with me, but it was still startling to have a bunch of people snapping at me all at once. So I've been there before. It's not a great place to be. And I probably wouldn't have ever made it as far as I did without Steven there to help explain things..." Peridot looks back up, and grins weakly at him. "So I guess what I'm saying is, I want to do the same for you? If you feel like you need it, I mean."

[kingsroads]

Strange is also looking at Peridot in a confused manner like he's expecting her to suddenly tell him that surprise, you're wrong, this is all your fault. The conversation isn't going at all like he'd expected either. But it's...nice?

Part of Strange just wants to stick to his guns and say he doesn't need any help, he can do it on his own. But the logical part kicks back in and no you idiot, there's nothing wrong with accepting help and besides, you don't know a thing about gems. And anyway, he likes Peridot. Unlike Lapis, who Strange has like literally had one conversation with and thereby feels perfectly fine passing casual asshole judgement on, Peridot's someone whose opinion he actually cares about.

It's then that Strange realizes that he's been staring at Peridot for a good thirty seconds without saying anything. How do you have conversations like this, Strange has no clue. "Thank you," he responds, with a little nod. "I appreciate the offer. And I'll certainly need it—like I said, I know nothing about gems." And unlike Rita's blastia or Lambert's witcher backstory, he hasn't even bothered asking about gems because Jonathan Strange has a one track mind that's pointed entirely at 'magic stuff.'

[periphrasing]

Thank god he finally says something, because Peridot was getting REAL nervous there, the longer the silence stretched on. Right on the verge of apologize and excusing herself, actually; it wouldn't be the first time one of her impassioned speeches wasn't well received, and it wouldn't be outside the realm of possibility for him to just. Stare incredulously at her for a prolonged period of time? In an attempt to make her so uncomfortable that she just leaves.

(It's one of Lapis's favorite tactics, actually.)

"Great!" she laughs with relief, relaxing visibly. "Of course, I'm more than happy to answer any questions about gems that you may have--" and she really truly is, because lecturing people about stuff they don't know is exactly her idea of a good time-- "but if it's alright with you... right now I'd really like to talk specifically about Lapis?"

[kingsroads]

And it's at this point that Strange frowns a little. Because he's not ready for another round of people pointing out how he messed up and how he could have done that better and people don't like it when you imply their friends purposefully got themselves in trouble, Mister Strange, despite the fact that a good 75% of the trouble Strange and his friends have gotten themselves into is their own damn fault.

Just remember Peridot liked the wife gem, just keep that in mind if she starts laying into him, don't screw this up the way you screwed up the conversation with Childermass.

However, Strange can't help the very dry and icy tone in his voice as he simply asks, "What about her?"

[periphrasing]

That iciness is pretty much exactly why she wants to talk about this, but it still makes Peridot sad to hear it. Her ears droop noticeably.

"I know she can be... difficult sometimes... and unfriendly. But she's really not a bad person," she pleads, wringing her hands. "I just don't want you to continue to think badly of her simply because of a stupid misunderstanding."

[kingsroads]

He's choosing his words carefully as he talks. Because Strange may be a bit of an oblivious idiot at times, but he certainly noticed Peridot's ears drooping in what he assumes is sadness. "Tell me. What would you think if I thought badly of Lazuli for reasons other than a stupid misunderstanding?"

Because buddy, starting off your sales pitch with 'I know she can be difficult and unfriendly' is not winning Strange over to Team Lapis.

[periphrasing]

Peridot winces slightly, but considers her answer carefully for a long while before answering. "...I can't force you to change how you feel about her," she begins to reply carefully, "but if I told you more about her, and you still decided you didn't like her? At least I'd consider it an informed decision."

She picks at the cuff of one sleeve on her button-down shirt anxiously, averting her gaze again while she continues. "It's not like I'm asking you to be best friends with her or anything." He couldn't be, even if he wanted to, because Peridot knows that SHE firmly holds the position of Lapis's best friend. Obviously. "I like you, I consider us to be friends, but... Lapis means a lot to me, and you said some really hurtful things to her. I want you to at least have the context for why Steven and I got so upset about it."

[kingsroads]

After Strange giving Peridot grief for the fact that he didn't know anything about Lapis (and considering that Strange has a bit of a complex about not knowing things in general), he can't help but admit that okay, Peridot does have a point. He should at least hear her out about Lapis and then give a snap judgement.

He simply adjusts his posture while Peridot averts her gaze, hands still in his pockets.

"If you're willing to talk, then I'm willing to listen."

And thus continues Strange's longstanding tradition of getting info on people via straight up gossip.

[periphrasing]

She finally looks back up at him, and flashes a weak smile. "Thanks," she says gratefully. Of course, now the real question is where the heck she should start with explaining a friend's backstory when it involves thousands of years of war and an alien society that Strange is still only tangentially familiar with.

Peridot settles back and huffs, looking pensive. "I guess you did want to know more about that mirror, anyway... so in a way, this kind of works out in your favor. I guess should clarify that never saw the thing for myself. She'd been freed by the time we met, so everything I know about this, I heard straight from either Lapis or Steven..."

She pauses again, still contemplating how to best lead into things. And then she picks up with this:

"Lapis... doesn't trust people easily. And she has an even harder time with forgiving people. B-But it's not really her fault! She's been... Hurt. Badly. Repeatedly." It makes Peridot real sad to think about. "By strangers, by gems that she trusted... by me, even, before I knew any better."

[kingsroads]

As Peridot mentions the mirror, Strange nods. Unsurprisingly, the thought of things involving mirrors is interesting to a person with reflection magic.

Though hmm. If she hasn't seen the thing herself, perhaps he should find a way to ask Steven about it. It's slightly worrying, but Strange is interested in the mechanics of the trapping just as much as he is the story of Lapis getting stuck in that mirror himself. If he could learn more details about this type of imprisonment, perhaps he could find a way to replicate the spell via magic, trapping people in reflections the way Childermass traps them in shadows.

...well he's certainly not telling the gems that. Instead, Strange continues, making brazen assumptions about Lapis. "I assume part of those trust issues stem from the mirror?"

[periphrasing]

Definitely do not EVER tell the gems that.

"...Yeah," Peridot confirms with a sigh. "See, in our little corner of the multiverse, back over 5,000 years ago... the Earth was caught up in the middle of a war between two gem factions: The forces of Homeworld, who wanted to colonize the planet... and a rebel group known as the Crystal Gems. The rebels were seeking to drive Homeworld away, in order to protect the Earth's indigenous lifeforms. That is, humans and other organics like you."

"It got pretty messy. I didn't exist yet, but, Lapis did. And she was there."

All just establishing details. Peridot hasn't even started getting to the heart of the issue yet, but she's steeling herself to now.

"I guess she got caught up in some kind of skirmish between the two sides. She's never really given me the details on exactly what happened, and I haven't pressed her for them, because it's obviously a painful topic for her. The important point is: she had her physical form destroyed in the process, and was forced to retreat to her gem to recover."

Peridot makes more meaningful eye contact with Strange at this point because, hey, remember what she was just talking about earlier, about getting destabilized? This is that. "When you retreat to your gem, you don't have a body. Or a voice, or any method of interacting with the world around you. You're just... inert. Inanimate. We do it to recover from taking heavy damage but in doing so, it also leaves us vulnerable and, for the most part, unaware of what's going on around us."

[kingsroads]

Strange is just taking all this in with a blank expression on his face. It's only when Peridot starts to describe Lapis's experiences that Strange can't help but frown, more fully understanding what was going on and what she must have gone through. After all, being completely cut off from the rest of the world, being inert and locked in yourself was certainly a different experience than the phrase 'trapped in a mirror' would imply.

"I think I have an idea of what you're talking about," Strange explains, to Peridot's possible surprise. He's obviously trying to keep his voice calm and level as he talks, like he's discussing something clinical and not something he still has issues with. His hands are firmly jammed in his pockets as he talks. "It was a rare occurrence but when I was in the peninsula, occasionally a musket ball would hit just so that it would render someone inert. The injured man was still alive, but could not talk or interact with the rest of the world. Likewise, men occasionally turned that way due to the stress of combat itself."

Of course, when someone's brain-dead thanks to an injury or catatonic thanks to stress on a battlefield in the 1810s, there's not much one can do for them in the first place. At least Lapis somehow managed to get restabilized.

[periphrasing]

She is a little bit surprised. What he's describing doesn't sound exactly the same, but... its more of an attempt to relate to the issue than he'd been making before, so. Progress?

Peridot nods briefly. "Yeah. It's kind of like that. Except unlike with humans, gems don't have a big heavy fleshy body to get in the way when we're disabled, which means we're easy to move. Capture... Shatter... Harvest." That last word seems to make her particularly uncomfortable, a vaguely nauseous look quirking her features. "Our bodies reform and we reactivate after a highly variable period of recovery, but that reformation process can be easily prevented by a number of means. In Lapis's case, her gem got picked up by some Homeworld soldiers-- People who should have been her allies. But they assumed she was a rebel, and..." She sighs, meeting Strange's gaze reluctantly. Wearily. "That's when they affixed her gem to the back of the mirror. To power it, as a means of interrogation."

[kingsroads]

Harvest? A part of Strange wants to press on that point, ask Peridot what it means, be nosy and curious...but whatever the connotation 'harvest' has to Peridot, it's a terrible one. She looked sick for that moment or so.

He's still not getting some of this. How can bodies reform in the first place? Although, maybe it's something to do with souls? The gem's souls are stored in the gem after their death as the Ringmaster's was stored in the egg after Portland. But how on earth could it be that considering that gems were barely magical in the first place? It's not being rude, it's a simple fact.

Strange views Peridot with a quizzical expression as she continues explaining what happened to Lapis. Being mistaken for the enemy, he can understand that, but then they get back to that damn mirror...and he's lost again.

"How exactly could a mirror interrogate someone?"

[periphrasing]

Peridot shakes her head. "No no no... The mirror doesn't do the interrogating. YOU interrogate the mirror."

Jeez Strange, KEEP UP.

The good thing about this question is that it has somewhat distracted Peridot from the haunting thoughts of some of the horrible things Homeworld can do to its subjects. "See, the gem is, in some ways, the only 'real' part of us. Everything but this--" she points at her own gem again-- "is made up a kind of hard light. That's why mortality isn't really an issue for us, we don't have a flimsy meat body made of cells and bones and stuff. Disease, aging... those are non issues for gems. But the gem itself is like... it's kind of like it's own self contained, perpetual power source. So in this case, when the lazuli gem was bonded with the mirror, the mirror served as a kind of... conduit, or a pseudo 'body' that allowed Lapis to regain consciousness, despite being locked in an otherwise inert form. Of course, it had..." Wince. "...Troubling limitations."

[kingsroads]

Strange can't help but give Peridot a fussy little frown. He didn't know that, okay? They thought she was the enemy, this made sense in his mind!

That fussy little frown is still on his face as Peridot continues to explain. And...he's not getting some of this. How can light be hard, for all of Peridot's talk about a flimsy meat body, the gems still could get destabilized (was that the word?) so honestly, who's the flimsy little meat body now. But it's as he's mentally berating whatever the hell hard light is that Strange realizes he should probably pay attention.

Alright. Stick the gem to the mirror, the gem could look though the mirror but couldn't act through the mirror. Which does indeed have troubling limitations. But then they get right back to Strange's problem in the first place as, at least in his mind, he can see past some of those limitations.

"Troubling limitations such as the lack of arms or a voice. But if a magician is talented enough or has enough power, they could bypass limitations like that entirely." There were plenty of faerie stories about the fae doing something like that, after all, casting spells with only a thought. "Of course, that's assuming the world actually has magic to begin with. Yours does not."

At least, Strange thinks it doesn't. And blunt as these words are, his tone is pure wistfulness. If only Peridot's world had magic! If only Lazuli was more of a magician herself! There were so many ways this could have been prevented but the greatest tragedy of them all is that none of them stuck.

[periphrasing]

Peridot's tail thumps once against the surface she's sitting on, a lazy, vaguely frustrated twitch. "There were other limitations aside from the lack of a body or lack of magic. Lapis described to me a situation where she was conscious and aware of her surroundings, of what the people interrogating her were saying to her, but her free will was extremely limited. She could only respond directly to specific questions asked of her."

[kingsroads]

"Much like the bonds of a summoning," the pro-magic peanut gallery pipes up. Can this conversation go one minute without Strange comparing some aspect of Lapis's plight to magic, the world may never know.

"Depending on the nature of the summoning, the magician can set the terms of the one being summoned. If one was particularly cruel, they could set the criteria of the summoning to restrict the summoned's will that much. Obviously, most wouldn't do that as the summoned being does have a life of it's own outside of the summoning and it'd be immensely suspicious if they weren't able to talk, but it is a possibility."

Just don't ask how he knows that. Because wow is Strange saying all this in a matter-of-fact tone like he knows what he's talking about.

[periphrasing]

Peridot's own lack of knowledge regarding summoning magic blessedly keeps Strange from any questioning on that front, because she mostly just listens to all that and hears information on a topic that he's clearly more familiar with than she is. No reason to inquire, and nothing to do but take his word for it.

"So you do have an idea of what I'm talking about. Good," she says, nodding once, deciding to take Strange's constant references to his own world's magic as a sign that he's at least listening to her. At least he's engaging with what she's saying. "Now imagine a situation like that, except where the people who summoned you or bonded you or whatever, abruptly leave the planet, leave you behind, and you stay like that, alone and trapped in your own head, for the next several thousand years. And after a couple millennia, when someone DOES finally come along and picks up your little mirror prison, they don't recognize that you're even a person! And you have no way of telling them. So you spend ANOTHER thousand years trapped and used like a tool. That's what happened to Lapis."

Peridot SURE HOPES he's getting the picture by this point, or she's not really sure what else she can do.

[kingsroads]

Strange is indeed getting the picture. Summoned and trapped, stuck with your own thoughts for what feels like a lifetime. Lazuli might not be literally cursed but from the picture Peridot is painting, he could easily see how she might feel like she was cursed.

"One could become quite mad," he simply says, in a matter-of-fact tone. After all, he knows madness. And nothing makes madness worse than the simple act of being alone and helpless.

He pauses for a moment, as if mulling his words over. When he speaks again, it's in an exceedingly tentative and hesitant tone. Because oh if there is one thing that Strange hates doing, it's admitting that he messed up, that something he did was his fault and there's no way he can ignore this or (entirely) shift the blame onto someone else. "Perhaps...perhaps I should have waited and gained more information before passing judgement on Lazuli."

Arabella once told him he was a bit too rash. Do not act, Jonathan. Think. He really needs to live by those words a bit more.

[periphrasing]

They're of one mind on that point. Peridot still loathes to admit when she's wrong, but she is steadily warming herself to the benefits of doing so. She offers Strange an encouraging smile at that, looking considerably relieved already.

"Yeah." He should have. She's not going to disagree with that. "But, you wouldn't be the first person to jump to conclusions about her," she reassures him. "I mean, the first time I met her was in an interrogation room, so at least you're a step above that."